The Superfly and the Brawler
by Noraque
Summary: After suffering an injury on RAW, the last thing Tamina expected was a visit. Much less a visit from a certain bareknuckle brawler.


**A/N: We all know WWE is scripted, that the winners are predetermined, that many of the Superstars' names are not their own. For the purpose of clarity, however, this story and any other wrestling stories I may write in the future will be written as though WWE is completely real and the Superstars' ring names and histories, no matter how outrageous, are their real ones.**

**Enjoy!**

Tamina gritted her teeth. The pain in her knee had stopped getting worse and now held itself at a 'steady' intensity. _Steady_. That was a laugh. It was as though a hurricane had parked itself inside her joint. Sure, it wasn't going anywhere else but it was doing a hell of a good job wrecking the area it was in.

The trainer looked up at her sympathetically at her veiled inhale as he adjusted the icepack on her knee. The daughter of the legendary Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka was trying hard to avoid showing any discomfort. That didn't surprise him; she was one of the toughest women in the WWE. Truth was she was handling it a lot better than some of the male wrestlers. Still, even the toughest superstars had limits.

She noticed him looking up at her. "What?" She asked a little more aggressively than intended.

He merely shook his head. "Just wondering how you managed to escape with a sore knee. You're lucky you didn't injure yourself more seriously."

"I didn't injure myself. I _was_ injured," she said through clenched teeth, wincing as another jolt of electricity hit the nerves. She had just come back from a tag team match with Natalya against Kelly Kelly and Alicia Fox. It was a miracle she had gotten injured at all considering how short Divas' matches were these days but somehow it had happened. Kelly had jumped on her off the apron of the ring to the outside and when they landed on the floor, all of the blonde's weight had come down on her knee, bending it unnaturally. As if that wasn't bad enough, while she was out there lying in pain, inside the ring Alicia had almost broken Natalya's nose with a horribly botched axe kick, resulting in the former Hart Dynasty member being pinned while on the verge of passing out. The fans, at least those who hadn't left for a bathroom break during the match, reacted with little more than crickets except for the cringe-worthy ending. A few of them, mostly males who were over the age of twelve then gave Kelly and Alicia catcalls as they pranced around in their skimpy ring attire. Then to top it all off, the pair had not even apologized to her and Natalya afterwards for their botches.

Tamina clenched her fists. She understood that this was a tough business but at least women like she and Natalya had trained and prepared for it. The idea of untalented models who couldn't wrestle their way out of a paper bag coming in and not only beating them on a weekly basis but also injuring them pissed her off. She was here to wrestle, not shake her boobs and ass for all the drunk, horny men in the crowd. The Pacific Islands superstar decided to let the incident go this once, in lieu of starting a huge fight in the locker room. But the next time Kelly did something so careless, Tamina _would _remind her of it- right before she broke the blonde Barbie Doll in half with her bare hands.

"Well, either way you're lucky to get away with what you did," the trainer said. "Your knee's going to be sore for a few days but it should be fine."

Tamina snorted. _Lucky?_ If this was luck, she'd hate to see disaster. "Yeah, yeah. When can I get back in the ring?"

"Well, normally I'd tell you to take at least a week off from intensive physical activity but I doubt you'd go for that."

"Got that right."

The trainer nodded in amusement. "So I'd say keep it wrapped and iced for a few days and you'll be good to go. Just don't put too much stress on it for the next twenty-four hours."

"Great," she muttered.

"I'm serious, Tamina. Next time you may not be so lucky." The trainer stood and packed up his things. "I know you hate being inactive but it's the only way to get back to a hundred percent. Don't beat yourself up even more before you're ready."

As he walked out of the room, Tamina sighed and adjusted the ice pack on her knee. What was the point of even asking about recovery time? Tonight was the first night she'd been in a match on RAW in over two months. Well, she could kiss appearing regularly away for a while. Even though the injury wasn't her fault, management was unlikely to view her favourably after this. For her, it'd be back to wrestling on NXT for the next half year while RAW was turned into the Lingerie Model show.

The pillow in the lower part of her back was causing it to arch and strain unnaturally. With her free hand, she reached back and tried to pull it out from under her. The thing stuck under her body weight. She grinded her teeth; she would have to sit up to get it out, placing her knee under even more strain. _Screw that_. She was tougher than the trainer thought. She wasn't going to let a little pain stop her.

Tamina took a deep breath and pulled herself up into a sitting position, then let out a cry and immediately fell back as a new electric shock tore through her knee. Her grip on the ice pack released and fell to the side. She was able to snatch it just before it fell to the floor.

She squeezed her eyes shut and took several deep breaths. The hurricane in her leg ground her ligaments together. Her jaw clenched and blood pounded in her ears. _Great_. Now both her knee and her back were killing her and she couldn't straighten up without help. What else could go wrong?

"Having trouble?"

The sudden masculine voice right next to her automatically made her crack open an eye. A second later, she regretted doing so.

Wade Barrett stood next to the trainer's bed, a smirk that was way too natural on his face. She let out a heavy sigh. This only made the smirk widen. "Hello, _Tamina_," he said, his British accent emphasizing every syllable in her name.

"What do you want?"

"Care if I join you?"

"If I told you no, would you leave?"

"Probably not."

"Then by all means, make yourself comfortable." Tamina waved an exasperated hand at the trainer's chair.

The Englishman obliged and took a seat. He was wearing black wrestling trunks and a new black shirt with words _Barrett Barrage _written in gold on the front; no doubt he counted on it soon being a hot new item on WWE's website. He had just come back a few weeks ago from a serious arm injury and had grown out a dark beard in his rehab period, possibly to look more dark and menacing and match the bareknuckle brawler persona he promoted. He certainly hadn't lost the arrogance or confidence he'd had before, that was certain. Tamina wasn't really sure why he'd come to see her; she had only seen him a couple of times backstage and had barely exchanged more than two words with him the whole time.

"I saw your match," he said unexpectedly, as though reading her mind.

"Yeah?" she replied. "Well, three cheers for you."

"How's the knee?"

"How do you think it is?" Tamina responded rather testily. "It got twisted out of shape by a bimbo model who wouldn't know wrestling if it came up and kicked her in the ass." She wasn't someone who got mad very often but there was just something about the bareknuckle brawler that got under skin. Maybe it was because he was currently involved with Alicia and she was letting her feelings over professionalism cloud her mind.

"Is it serious?"

"Why would you care?"

Wade shrugged. "I care."

"Sure," Tamina responded sarcastically. "Whatever you say."

He leaned back in his chair and watched as she adjusted the ice pack on her knee. "I know what it's like to get injured at someone else's hands. It's all I could remember while I was out."

As surprising as it was, she remembered that night well too. She recalled all those months ago watching (at home since she wasn't on the show, of course) the Manchester native writhe in pain on the outside, having caught his arm between the announce table and an airborne Dolph Ziggler, who had been tossed over the top rope courtesy of the Big Show. It had cost him the chance to be at WrestleMania, something no wrestler ever wants to have happen.

"So you know what I'm going through?"

Wade smirked again. "Not really. I've never been injured by a Barbie Doll who can't wrestle."

And just like that, the moment was ruined. Tamina huffed and turned away. "What an _ass_," she murmured audibly.

"Why, thank you."

"That _wasn't_ what I meant."

He shrugged again. "Whatever you say."

"There a reason you're here, Barrett?" Tamina asked pointedly. "Don't you have match to get ready for?"

"Not for twenty minutes. And anyway, it's against Santino. Not like I have to prepare all night for it."

"So you're here to bother me until then?"

"Well, if you want me to go away-"

"Yes, I would."

"I can, but then I wouldn't be abe to invite you out for drinks after the show."

Tamina stared. That wasn't what she was expecting. "I'm sorry?" She said, certain she must have heard wrong.

"After the show," he repeated. "I invite. You out. For drinks."

"With who else?"

"No one. Just you and I."

"And just what makes you think I'd agree?"

Wade leaned back and smiled. "Because I asked."

"You're going to have to do more than that."

"Sure. I could beg you. I could implore you. I could demand that you come. But personally, I find asking nicely works the best."

Tamina looked at him. What could she say to that? The man had an answer for everything. Still, she had to admit she was more than just a little intrigued. Despite his cocky arrogance, the Englishman had been looking very impressive since his return, both in the ring and out. It was hard not to see how well he kept himself in shape. Why did she find the idea of having drinks with him so ridiculous? Maybe it was because of the giant elephant still in the room. "What about your Rihanna wannabe?" She asked a little more aggressively than she planned.

"Who?"

She rolled her eyes. "You know who I'm talking about. _Alicia_."

"Somehow I doubt she'd mind," he replied easily.

She raised an eyebrow. "Oh really?"

"Yeah." He shifted in the chair so he was now looking at her straight on. "She and I aren't together anymore."

That surprised her. She hadn't heard anything about that. Usually gossip travelled around the women's locker room faster than flies around rotten meat. "Why not?"

"It just didn't work out." He cast a curious eye over her. "Why so interested?"

"I want to see if I'm just your rebound for the night."

He scoffed. "Please. I'm too much of a gentleman for that."

She snorted. "Sure."

"Besides, you're not the rebound type."

That got her attention. "And just what do you mean by that?"

He counted off on his fingers. "Kelly, Eve, the Bellas before they left- _those_ I could picture as rebound types. You're not one."

Tamina wasn't too sure what to think of that. She had never thought of herself as a girly type of woman, certainly not compared to some of the other Divas. Hearing that she wasn't the type of woman to be with right after a break up gave her mixed feelings. She didn't know whether to feel insulted or proud. She decided to go with the latter.

"Thanks, I guess." She adjusted herself into an elevated position. As she did, the pillow in her lower back suddenly gave way and slipped to the side. She quickly steadied herself to avoid jarring her knee as she fell back, but as she did so the leaky ice pack slipped out of her hand and fell to the floor.

Tamina rolled her eyes before reaching down. The bed wasn't too far off the ground and she grabbed hold of the pack, but on the way up it slipped out of her hand again.

Tamina leaned back in the bed and squeezed her eyes shut. She wanted to _scream_. She wanted the world to hear her frustration. But more than anything, she wanted that damn ice _strapped _to her knee.

Reaching blindly, she felt around on the ground for the object in question. Feeling nothing but hard floor, she was about ready to unleash the full force of her rage when she felt the cold pressed slowly against her aching joint.

The breath caught in her throat as the icy feeling quickly numbed the throbbing area. She could almost picture it penetrating beneath her flesh, reducing the inflammation and drawing the pain away.

The breath in her throat _almost_ turned into a moan of pleasure but she was able to catch it in time and settled for a deep sigh of relief as she relaxed her muscles and buried her head into the pillow. She reached down and pressed the ice pack down with her own hand. As she did, just for a second, her fingers brushed up against his; she felt a bolt of electricity run up her spine. But this electricity was not of pain…

She slid open her eyes and saw him standing over her, that small smirk back on his face. He let her fingers rest on his for a brief second before slowly pulling away. He could see a faint look of regret and disappointment in her eyes that was so brief he would have missed it had he not been looking into them.

She lifted her head ever so slightly off the pillow. "Next time I get ice, I want a nice massage to go with it," she said rather slightly off-handedly.

The smirk deepened. "I'll be there. So… drinks after the show?"

"As long as you're paying, why not make it dinner?"

Wade chuckled. "Careful, my dear girl," he said. He went to leave, then stopped just inside the room and turned back. "A bit more of this and I just might start following you home."

Tamina smirked. She was actually looking forward to the end of the show.

**A/N: I think I'm a pioneer on this site; that's to say, I've just published the first Tamina story. I really think it's a shame she's not used on TV more. She's very talented and, from my male perspective, very attractive in a tough, exotic way. Plus, I'm also a Wade Barrett fan and hope he gets a push very soon. I might write a follow up to this fic from his perspective.**

**If you have something to say about this story, give me a HELL YEAH! Or a review. :)**


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